Fisher Body Stamps - Resto Shop

Stamp Collecting

This installation of Resto Shop is on Fisher Body stamps. I'm not referring to the cowl tag or the hidden VIN numbers. I'm referring to the little characters stamped throughout the body shell. It's a single letter (which changes by location of the stamp) followed by two numbers (that stay within a few numbers of each other). I'm not sure if there is more significance to their presence besides probably being a checks-and-balances system Fisher Body used for keeping track of sheetmetal inventory before they were all spot-welded together to make up the shell. The part that's surprising about this theory is that even the doors and trunk share a similar number sequence, so they weren't restricted to just the main shells' body panels.

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Here's what I've found so far: The numbers are stamped all over the body, mostly in hidden places. Most of the panels seem to have these characters stamped on them. I've found them in the interior of the car, but with a quick inspection, I only see them in the roof structure, which is normally covered with headliner fabric. The firewall panels, quarter-panels, and trunk lid is also stamped.

I've talked with a few professional restorers about these characters and nobody has paid attention to them or realized they all had a common bond. I've seen these characters on '67, '68, and '69 NOR and LOS-built Camaros. If the sequence strays too far from others on a body, it could possibly mean that the odd-panel-out was not born with the rest of the car. This information could help you when purchasing a shell that's supposedly all original sheetmetal.

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If anyone would like to help me on a journey to researching these body stamps, please drop me an email with info or comments to: camaroperformers@racehome.com.

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